How to open Task Manager in Windows 10/8/7

The Windows Task Manager helps in getting information about a computer performance, running applications, processes and more. In short, you can use the handy Windows tool to start certain programs or end them. It is more of a troubleshooting tool for beginners ,which is broken up into multiple tabs. Each tab is associated with a particular category such as the running applications, running processes, Windows services, the computer’s performance, network utilization, and the users that are currently logged in. If you are connected to a network, you can also use Task Manager to view network status and see how your network is functioning.

Open Task Manager

1] In Windows XP, you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL key combo to get the Task Manager running ! Things changed with Windows Vista onwards. Now if you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL you see a dialog/screen, from where you can select ‘Start Task Manager’.

3] In the most recent version of Windows – Windows 8/10, you can also access the Task Manager from the WinX Menu. All you need to do is Press Win+X in combination to bring up the ‘Power Task Menu’. From there, you can select the ‘Task Manager’ option.

4] Goes without saying you can still always simply right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.

5] Then again, while on the Start, you can search for Task Manager or Taskmgr.exe and click on it. Use this executable to run it using the Run box or a Command Prompt. Create a desktop shortcut, if you wish! It is located in the C:\Windows\System32 folder.

6] Open a command prompt, type Taskmgr and hit Enter to open the Task Manager.

Anand Khanse is the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, a 10-year Microsoft MVP Awardee in Windows (2006-16) & a Windows Insider MVP. Please read the entire post & the comments first, create a System Restore Point before making any changes to your system & be careful about any 3rd-party offers while installing freeware.